Thank God…our infrastructure is better than Trafficinfratech!

It seems like if one has got some contacts in some industry sector or if he has a database of key people in that trade, he starts a publication for that particular sector. Without giving the necessary attention to the publication or without putting essential efforts for making a great magazine, he simply launches a substandard magazine. Most of the Business to Business publications have similar kind of history of their inception… and so is their destined result – a bad magazine!

Trafficinfratech is recently launched bi-monthly magazine for the traffic related infrastructure, systems and technology. This very niche magazine is launched by Virtual Info Systems Pvt Ltd who also publishes ‘Clean India Journal’ and ‘Buildotech’ and hosts a couple of trade shows.

Content

This bi-monthly magazine is meant to target the people who are associated in planning, creating and deploying the traffic systems, security measures, latest technology and environment friendly infrastructure in place.

Entire magazine is carrying articles majorly related to traffic management, infrastructure, safety and few are talking about technology and news etc. But these sections are visible only on content page not inside the magazine. Most of the articles are contributed by the experts from the sector and that is why they are looking as they are written as a chapter of a book. Even an informative and business article can be written differently when it is written for a magazine. Or they can be subedited that way for the magazine purpose. That is why magazine is looking nothing but a compilation of a few white papers on the subject.

Most of these kinds of business magazines have a common problem of inconsistencies… inconsistencies of article structure, formatting, language and the jargon that is used. Each article is contributed by a different person and everyone has his own style of writing… (if at all the contributor is a writer in first place). In such cases, editorial supervision becomes very-very critical which is clearly lacking in Trafficinfratech.

Design

It is horrible! Not a single rule of magazine designing is followed here in this magazine. Generally people give excuse that it is not required to give much attention in design for B2B magazines (though I don’t agree with this logic) but it doesn’t mean that design rules should not be followed at all.

Basic grid is not followed in the magazine… leave the magazine aside, it is not followed properly even in one article. Baseline is left unlocked, margins-columns-gutters are not fixed, leading-kerning are adjusted manually…and what not! Photographs, boxes, quotes are either entering in the body text columns or they are running into the margins.

Most of the articles are simply pasted from MSWORD to the layout software and that is why articles are still carrying the original formatting of MSWORD document.

In the name of design, unnecessary design elements are introduced in folio and those too are not followed consistently. Body copy and box copy both are using same font and size. Entire magazine is designed in sans family only in a few photographs serifs are used for the captions. Captions are placed in some images/photographs and at some places they are missing. Even those are there, are not in any discipline.

Photographs, Infographics & illustrations used in the magazine are also poor. Since these elements are sourced from different points, the quality, the style, the presentation is also different and that inconsistency leaves a bad taste to the reader.

The cover of launch issue of trafficinfratech is the worse. This is very unprofessionally conceptualized & designed cover that represents the entire magazine’s design in true sense. Looking at the cover only, one can get the idea of design standards he can expect on inside pages. Poor cover stories, poor placement, poor treatment, poor imaging, badly placed elements… overall a bad cover!

Printing

Photographs are good but spoiled in bad treatment. Few are placed badly few are not corrected before press work. Otherwise printing is good and text part is printed well. Prepress work is poor if it was perfect, printing could have been even better.

Product

Paper used for Trafficinfratech is good and reasonably good printing is giving it a better look. If content was more apt and if design was little bit disciplined, the magazine would have been a good magazine. Since it is a business to business magazine, you won’t find it at regular newsstands. Bi-monthly Trafficinfratech is carrying very less content to read in two months and it is priced at Rs. 100.

As conclusion, Trafficinfratech is a badly presented bunch of articles which are written based upon inputs & white papers given by people from this industry.

International catalog for Indian homes

'Trends', a new magazine launched in India by WWM & Times group JV. In fact, it is not a magazine but it is a series of topical books which are in shape of magazines. Since these are produced this way and made available at premium book & magazine stores only, they are positioned as ‘bookazines’. For the longer shelf life these bookazines don’t have the publication date on the cover. In order to follow the trend of its International edition, the Indian edition will also have 10 issues only in a year.

‘Trends’, as they claim, is the most read reference world-wide by the professional designers & architects. It has already 10 international editions (http://trendsideas.com) before coming to India. Internationally it has various titles like Home and Apartments, Kitchen, Renovation, Exteriors, Commercial Spaces, and bathrooms etc. But, here in India only Home series is launched.

Content

They call it a great source of reference but I see it as just a compilation of couple of good home designs. To broaden the scope of content they have included Kitchen, Interior, garden & commercial designs altogether in single title- Home Trends.

‘Home Trends’ is collective showcase of (mostly) International & Indian designs. It is good for the professionals to get the ideas and perhaps to showcase their work here.

Though it is not in a regular magazine format, still it has some sections those, more or less are the compartments in which they have put similar designs together. In the name of article, there are around a ten of beautiful pictures of every design and very few words (400 on an average) for layout in 6-8 pages, that’s it. Inaugural issue has showcased almost 25 designs in one issue but all (well, most of them) are in the same layout. This monotonous presentation makes it even more look like a catalog or a brochure for ideas only.

Text is very less in the entire the magazine hence very less is left to do for the sub editors. Still there are lots of widow & orphan linesacross the magazine. Photo Captions are good & are quite helpful to understand the rationale behind the design. Very few designs (articles) only have floor plans along with the photographs.

Design

Though the magazine has some compartments to keep similar articles together, but design of this magazine is failed to highlight those compartments. They are visible only on content’s page.

Design, as I said earlier is very-very monotonous. And still it is not perfect or flawless. Since the magazine has very less design elements, it could be just flawless. But there are carelessly placed elements or images which makes a lousy layout. Most of the Photographs used in the magazine are excellent and gives a classy feel to the magazine as a whole.

Across the magazine, column width of body text keeps changing from article to article in order to adjust with the photographs. Few photographs are going into the bleed and on the opposite page only, other photographs are placed in page area!

It is understandable that parent brand has its own design guidelines to follow but those can be tweaked (with mutual consensus obviously) little bit keeping the socio-psycho understanding of local audience in the mind. Cover, as the trend of ‘Trends’ carries one beautiful photograph to represent the title and that’s it… No cover story, no theme on the cover! I think, keeping the positioning of this product in the mind, it is kept deliberately that way. It may not be good for newsstand/shelf sale but I think that publisher of ‘trends’ might have thought of compensating this dip in sale in some other way.

In India, putting one photograph (only) on the cover is going to be more problematic for store sale because unlike its international editions here, all the issues will have same title- ‘Home’, that may confuse the buyer and people can miss some issues.

Printing

Entire magazine is photographs heavy and photographs used in the magazine are just excellent. Same level of prepress job has enhanced even more the visual appeal of the product. Printing of the magazine is good.

Product

Paper which is average for a magazine but I think it should be better than a normal magazine’s paper as it is going to have longer shelf life and it is going to be kept as a collectible. ‘Trends’ is available in modern retails outlets and prime newsstands at cover price of Rs250. Looking at the quantity and the quality of ‘ideas’ a professional designer can get from an issue, the price is fine. Still, at the same price if it could have used better paper, it was just perfect.

Finally, ‘Home Trends’ is a good source for the professional designers who keep looking for ‘new’ ideas and reference.

Ashvarttha: All is well…!

You must agree that wellness is just another booming sector today and that is why we have been witnessing so many new launches since last recent years – 4thD Wellness, Complete Wellbeing, Men’s Health, Prevention, Doc n Doc, Asianspa India etc…some for general reader and some for trade or industry people. Earlier, we had very few national level magazines and a couple of regional language magazines on this subject as a broad category. But, in the last 2-3 years, even this genre is divided further into more specific and focused verticals like health, cure, prevention, care and even luxury spa etc. All is about wellness…!

‘If you don’t have any disease, it doesn’t mean that you are healthy’ – this is the whole concept behind this recently launched magazine (by Parimal Communications) called- Ashvarttha (Tree of Peepal). Publisher & Editor, Niharika Peri claims that the ideas are inspired from the ancient but the approach is absolutely modern in this magazine that has a mission to move this world ahead in a healthy way.

Content

Unlike other wellness magazines, Ashvarttha is not an easily understandable name as a title of a magazine that clearly tells about the genre of the magazine and that is why a tag line – ‘The Wellness Magazine’, was necessary to put over the masthead.

Though it is wellness magazine which is very focused subject to create the content around, still inaugural issue has many stories which are nowhere or hardly connected to the subject. There is one interview of Actress Sharmila Tagore, one travel story, another interview with a cop on his job which has no connections to wellness. As it is very thin and having very less content to read as it is a bi-monthly magazine. Top of that, stories which are not related to the subject, disconnects it from its targeted reader. Even the advertisers appeared in inaugural issue do not belong to the genre of this magazine.

Entire magazine has no edit structure, it’s simple a collection of couple of articles that’s it. Any article could have placed anywhere in the magazine. Most of the articles are not structured properly and even worse is the cover story of the inaugural issue that is presented so badly that you cannot find where story is leading, where it is ending.

Poor copy and mediocre subbing don’t leave a good reading taste.

Design

Designing and layout of Ashvrattha are same thoughtless and irrational as its content is. Even a quite big creative team has no idea of the basics of a magazine page design. Almost every page in this page has its own style, layout, grid without any consistency. Almost every text element in this magazine is using sans font while only just a few elements are using serif… that too without any reason or any design sense.

Cover of inaugural issue is designed badly. It has no consistency of selecting fonts for various cover stories. Every story line is using different effects and colors, which make it too cluttered cover that gives a discomfort reading. What could be worse than that cover image is horizontally flipped of the lead image used in cover story inside.

Inside the magazine, page numbers & other folio elements are unnecessarily given in too many colors that on one hand are inconsistent and on the other hand leave chances of errors.

Across the magazine, there are lots of design inconsistencies in usage of drop caps, font usage for titles & introductions and gutter lines.

Printing

Most of the photographs used in the magazine seem like those are taken from stock and are in good quality, still designers have spoiled a few of them by over-sizing them. Photographs which are printed in smaller or appropriate sizes are printed well. Pre production & color correction work is fine. Overall printing is good.

Product

Being a bi-monthly magazine it should have contained lots of content, lots of information, lots of articles but Ashvrattha has only 40 pages precisely. Paper used for the magazine is good. That thin issue made of mix of relevant & irrelevant articles is priced at Rs. 75 which I think is just not justified.

All I can say that Ashvarttha is just a thoughtless & very unprofessionally executed magazine which will not be able to appeal its target audience nor the relevant clients unless it is tweaked drastically.

Youth Eye: Absolutely Unconscious

Though actual tag line is ‘Collectively Conscious’ but the way this magazine goes, my title suits better.

By the way, I am talking about a monthly magazine – ‘Youth Eye’ which is recently

launched by Pragati Printing & Publications co. and as its title suggests it is targeting youth only! But, after going through initial issues of this magazine it very clear that the publisher & editor of this magazine have no idea how to create a magazine.The articles are so general in nature that they can appeal anybody (rather nobody)!

Content

Editorial structure of this magazine is extremely unplanned and unfocused. Though, in the first issue only, they have managed to convey their negligence of publication by giving very amateurish section names like – Youth Fashion, Youth Passion, Youth Hangouts, Youth Health, Youth

fitness, Youth social commitments…!!! God only knows whether these were section names or articles because they have got

disappeared in later issues while these were prominently shown on the cover of inaugural issue. I can’t understand if this magazine is for youth only, what could be the reason of putting the word ‘youth’ as a prefix to all the section names so explicitly.

While reviewing this magazine, third issue was already released in the market and shockingly all three issues have different structure for content representation! Price is changed (reduced from Rs.75 to Rs.60 precisely), paper size is changed, navigation is changed, back cover is carrying another option of front cover, size & placement of mast-head is changed… and top of that they call it ‘innovation’!

Selection of article also vague…it is not more than a compilation of randomly picked articles from here and there. That is why there is no consistency in writing or in presentation. Any article doesn’t leave a good taste after reading because of its pathetic copy desk work and poor

subbing. Advertorials are placed badly in the magazine so that it confuses the reader and this is harmful for the credibility of magazine as well.

Design

It is horrible! What all design

flaws are possible are there in this single issue. Even the basics of magazine design are not in place… grid is missing, alignments are bleeding, text is bleeding into the folio, pictures are pushing text columns, base lines are not locked, leading is varying, body copy typefaces are changing… and what not! Designers have tried all possible designs, layouts, colors, fonts at fullest. And I wonder how one editor can allow making blunders like

these (unless he himself has no clue of designing)!

All three issues have different layouts for inside pages. Even a single issue has variety of design errors. It clearly shows that design team has no style sheet or guide lines to follow. They did whatever came in their minds.

Selection of photograph is also bad and so is the level of illustrations.

Printing

Picture quality is very poor and so are the other design elements which are used across the magazine. Remaining is ruined by the pre-press team. Even on the cover photograph of Pooja Chopra for the inaugural issue is just spoiled by overdoing corrections.

Most of the photographs are not showing true skin colors that shows color correction work is done carelessly in the magazine. Printing is fine but because of poor pre-press it lacks in quality.

Product

Even for the production, cheap glossy paper is used for this magazine. Average 80-90 pages are just compilation of some irrelevant articles and random and lousy photographs. And paying Rs. 60 for this kind of substandard content is also not advisable.

To sum up all I can say that ‘youth eye’ is just an example of a magazine that has no editorial focus and is just launched without any magazine publishing knowledge. I don't think that youth can enjoy reading this or if they can get any benefit out of this.

IT NEXT: It’s for CIO of tomorrow!

IT NEXT is the new magazine launched by 9.9 Mediaworx pvt. ltd. (also the publisher of digit, skoar, CTO forum, Digit Channel, Industry 2.0, Logistic 2.0 and several more…) in the beginning of this year. IT NEXT is targeting next in line CIOs to help them to reach at top seat.

Content

More you slice any vertical, more you need to be careful for your positioning. Even a small deviation from your domain can blur the fine and definite boundaries of the positioning of your

product.

Editorial Structure of magazine is fine, except the weak BOB part…! Also, I can't understand the need of repeating 'Update' section again in the BOB. 'Insights' and '15-Minute Manager' sections are interesting & carrying informative content.

Most of the articles are structured well but Subbing could be improved.

Well, the cover story of inaugural issue is good for general reading but the structure of article is flawed. Further, the word 'SURVEY' sounds here 'over rating' for an ordinary story. This is a good article anyway even it was written based upon inputs from managers from across country, but 'survey' is absolutely too big tag to give this story. And presenting 6 figures (only) as the outcome of this 'extensive survey' (That too so loud) shows the shallowness of the survey. Otherwise this article is written well and is quite informative. Yes, presentation of this article could be even better.

I am wondering for this cover why the 5 out of 6 stories on the cover are interrogative. 5WH is OK, but it shouldn't be so obviously in the story titles itself!

While going through the magazine cover to cover- the quality of content doesn't go consistent across the magazine. Only a very few pages in the middle of the magazine of 64 pages are containing in depth information while the rest of the pages seem average on depth part.

Design

Good design, especially colors are quite soothing & contemporary for this kind of subject, though there are some goof-ups in the presentation of some articles. Illustrations and infographics created in the magazine are just perfect.

On the cover, cover story is just perfect but is unnecessarily cluttered. It seems as in the confusion of highlighting the right 'pull', it is given all kinds of treatments (different colors, backgrounds etc. ) to various words like- YOU, THE NEXT, CIO, 7…!

Also, '+' sign doesn't go well with 'single cover storied' cover!

Layout of 'Big Q' section is appearing just out of the place. It's very common and impractical while the rest of the magazine is very fresh and trendy in terms of look and feel.

There are some places where design has been inconsistent… may be its by mistake… (if these are corrected in forthcoming issues…)!

Printing

Prepress work is fine. And so is printing! That is why photographs have come out well and in terms of look and feel, overall magazine is looking just great.

Product

Paper quality for inside magazine and for the cover is good. But 64 pages of content are too less to quench your thirst for the information. Since it is the magazine which you cannot see on newsstand, so you will have to subscribe it for Rs.1400 (12 Issues) and looking at content quality/quantity it seems slightly on higher side.

Overall, IT NEXT is good to browse but to hook the IT managers permanently into this, this magazine needs to be A) improve on objective content & its structure and B) absolutely firm & consistent on its positioning.

CAREERS360 in Hindi: 360 degree of blunder!

Do you remember my ‘virdi’ct for ‘CAREERS360’ magazine (http://mediajunction.blogspot.com/2009/04/careers-360-right-information-in-wrong.html) that I have posted almost a year ago at its launch? As it is that English edition is not so impressive and now its Hindi edition is also there in the market and this is even worse. After going through this launch issue of Hindi edition, I am wondering why this product is launched at all? If it was meant to be a substandard product the way it is, then what was the need for creating it? Why the people behind this kind of poor ‘language-edition’ don’t respect their audience or at least their own product’s credibility?

This Hindi edition of ‘CAREERS360’ is just a great example of careless execution of localization of any content product. Though, it is published by Mr. Maheshwer Peri (Pathfinder Publishing Pvt. Ltd.), still in terms quality or presentation it is nowhere close to any product of Outlook group.

What is wrong in it?

Hindi edition of CAREERS360 has a long list of unforgivable problems as follows and all of these make it a bad product-

- Content (at major) is created for English edition

- Poor and even wrong translation (and sometimes literal translation)

- Substandard copy desk work (poor sentence structure and erroneous grammar)

- Careless proofing (spelling, punctuation, typo and software related errors)

- Inconsistent usage of language (Urdu/Devnagri/English/English words in devnagri script)

- At places some words are used in local slangs and some places its literary

- Inconsistent usage of spelling at different place of a single word

- No writing guidelines are followed

- No editing style sheet is followed

- Not connecting to the audience (irrelevant examples are given)

- Content is already published 3-4 months ago in its English edition

- Not a single exclusive article for Hindi edition that could be used to highlight on the cover

How can be a product so wrong?

Content

It is badly ‘created’! I don’t think that any reader will be able to connect to it. Bad language, spelling mistakes, mix of various languages like Urdu, English, Literary Hindi, street level Hindi and what not…! While reading such a bad language, it is difficult for anyone to concentrate and appreciate the subject or the issue discussed in the article.

I strongly believe that the content requirement for both the editions audience is exactly the same and hence the content should be also the same. The only acceptable difference is of the language, that’s it. But, its Editor Mr. Mahesh Sarma, is perhaps confused to how to treat them differently. And this perceived difference is not a small to him but it is huge and is clearly visible at many places in the magazine. Huge difference in pricing of the both the products, Content quantity served for both the readers, Quality of content (unverified, misspelled, poorly edited) given to the Hindi audience that you cannot even think of putting in English edition. That kind of negligence shows how sincerely you are taking your product and your target audience.

Just to prove my point here- the launch issue of CAREERS360 Hindi is carrying the cover story which is also published in English edition in the March 2010 issue i.e. ‘India’s Best Students’. In the English edition, this article is listing the names & success stories of 40 great students. (As it is very subjective and debatable methodology of preparing this list... but let’s not get into this for this point of time.) This list was just to motivate the students that even they can follow their path and get succeed in the life… it was no where related to language you speak. Then how come the list is cut down to 18 profiles only when it is published in Hindi edition??? Other 22, who are dropped from this list, were not useful or relevant for Hindi audience or what? I can’t even think any reason of dropping their names. If space was the constraint, it could be managed by cutting copy within the description… but at least all forty should be remained there in the list. Otherwise entire list could be given in a small box along with the description of selected ones.

Same sort of lacking of quality is there in translation (from English edition to Hindi edition)- it is bad and at some points it is wrong also! Spellings are written differently and even wrong at different places. If these kinds of errors are not bearable for English edition, how can one treat a language edition that way?

Apart from that, there is no structure of writing articles in this issue and articles are edited very badly. Same is with the structure of entire magazine that it is not clearly defined. Badly translated/adopted section names are not coming out properly.

Design

That is also lifted from its English edition... even though it is not so great! And this could be height of negligence that while lifting design elements from English edition there are few elements were kept as it is they were designed using English script only. They look out of the place when they appear in the Hindi edition.

Lots of design inconsistencies are there that clearly shows the lack of design style sheet. No design philosophy is followed in blurbs (typo & colors) and in headlines/sub heads etc. Cover story of the launch issue and even the edit page is laid out badly. Throughout the magazine, lots of elements like boxes, tables, box heads, and titles of illustrations are treated very thoughtlessly. That leaves very bad taste while browsing entire magazine from start to end.

Printing

At least that is the only thing which can be considered ok. Prepress work also is fine (may be because all the design elements, illustrations & photographs are lifted from English edition) in the magazine.

Product

Looking at the cover price which is kept very low as Rs.15 for this monthly magazine and the content quality it offers, it is not the product worth to appreciate.

Career, itself is the genre that has lots of scope of making a great product (regardless of language) that can spread like a fire in the jungle if served the relevant & quality content to the readers. But right now, the Hindi edition of CARRERS360 is in very bad shape which needs to be improved a lot. As Mr. Peri has said in one interview with exchange4media that Hindi market has a huge opportunity if rightly priced… with due respect, I would humbly like to say that- sure, it has huge opportunity only if ‘right served’. It can be priced at our own terms later if readers find it relevant, useful & indispensable for their life… their career!

Lonely Planet: Almost perfect travel guide!

I often say- when it is just close to the perfection, even a small mistake seems bigger than it is in the real. That small error of yours can ruin all your efforts of making your creation perfect to the T. The Indian edition of ‘Lonely Planet’ magazine which is launched last week in India by WWM Pvt Ltd (also publisher of Filmfare, Femina – English and Hindi, Good Housekeeping, Top Gear, Hello, Grazia etc.) is a latest entrant in travelling space in Indian market.

37 years old brand LP (Lonely Planet) has around 500 guides and claims the sale of 6.5 million books every year. LP has introduced its magazine in UK last year and now it is released in India where it has to compete with already existing players (Outlook Traveler, Travel Plus, Discover India, Travel + Leisure, Express Travel World – B2B etc.) in travel space.

Content

The editorial structure of LP magazine is quite disciplined. Entire magazine is divided into proper sections that help a reader to navigate it at ease. Postcards, Easy trips, Features, Insider, and Mini guides are its editorial strength. With this kind of structure one can be easily familiar and comfortable with the magazine. Quality of articles, depth of information is really impactful and writing is also enjoyable.

The ratio of Indian and International destinations clearly shows that this magazine is not for an average Indian reader who mostly travels with family during kids’ school vacations. It is surely not for those whom travelling is just visiting their native place and carrying Paraathe-achaar-Poori-saangri-Thepla-Khaakhra etc for the journey. Cover stories of launch issue clearly define its positioning that it is meant for urban upper class only.

Design

Overall presentation of the magazine is good and is quite pleasant while browsing. But, as I have mentioned in the beginning that if small mistakes here and there could be taken care, it could have been just flawless and it could have set new standards in its space.

Inside pages are laid out with reasonable consistency while there are few mistakes here and there in some pages. But, the cover of launch issue is just a blunder. It has lots of inconsistencies and that shows lack of design philosophy and in result it has turned out as a bad cover.

The core strength of the magazine are its beautiful photographs (except a very few) and brilliant illustrations and info-graphics used is the articles.

Printing

As per the demand of this kind of content, printing should be absolutely excellent. And, LP magazine is just perfect at its printing front. Accordingly, prepress work is also perfect to bring out the final result.

The geographical maps which are very fine printed are just sharp and so clear that they have come out quite conveniently readable.

Production

Launch issue of LP has 230 pages and it is priced at Rs.100. Looking at the content, presentation and the overall product, this cover price of this monthly magazine is quite justified. Mini Guides in this magazine are given in the form of a set of 16 thick pages which can be torn and collect separately. One beautiful calendar is also available along with every copy of this issue.

As conclusion, I would say that Lonely Planet Magazine is going to set new standards in travel magazines’ space. With a few tweaks in the product it can be the essential handbook for every traveler. It is going to give serious competition to existing magazines as well as it will make tough entry for ‘Condé Nast Traveler’ (which is also about to launch in country very soon) unless everybody creates his own undisputed and unique position.

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How to use ‘VIRDI’CT..??

●○○○○ Browse & leave it

●●○○○ Borrow & Read it

●●●○○ Buy it occasionally

●●●●○ Buy regularly

●●●●● Subscribe it now!!!

Red Carpet: Doesn’t deserve for self!

Most pathetic publication released in recent few months (rather, in years) I have come across is – Red Carpet. This monthly magazine is launched late in the last year by owner, printer and publisher – Subodh Tyagi. It is priced at Rs.100 and is self acclaimed as world’s 1st new dimension film journal. But, it has no editorial focus and looks like a compilation only of a few substandard filmy gossips and photographs.

Content
Nothing that you can enjoy in this magazine... neither it is informative nor is entertaining. It has no editorial structure that could define the personality of this magazine. The issue I am going through is nothing but a collection of a few interviews, some gossips & tidbits… that’s all.

And top of that, Edit note of the same issue is talking about Colors TV channel while entire issue has not even a single story on TV programs nor about TV stars! This clearly shows the editorial has no guidelines what they want to present and how they want to position their product.

Design
Worse than its content…! Designers have no idea that how the entire magazine needs to be designed, layout or presented. Starting right from the cover, it is quite visible that its design is very immature and unprofessional. Very unlikely of filmy magazines, it has three stories only on the cover and even those are presented very badly.

Same substandard layout is done even for the inside pages of the magazine. There is no style sheet followed by the designer. No font families, no color definitions, no grids, no photographs style…everything is placed just like that… without following any rule or discipline. There are lots of design elements and effects are introduced unnecessarily throughout the magazine.

Photographs seem that they are taken either from stock or downloaded low resolution from various web sites. That is why most of the pictures are appearing poor.

Printing
As pathetic as content and design are! Prepress work is also substandard that is why a few photographs which could have been printed well, even they are spoiled.

Product
The only characteristic that stands out about this magazine is the orientation of the ‘Red Carpet’. This is a horizontal shaped (landscape) magazine but the poor paper quality doesn’t support this shape. This landscape shape is suitable for coffee-table books not for the magazines as magazines are meant to be read in comfortable posture.

Finally, I don’t see any value that you can get out of this highly priced magazine… neither information nor even eye-candy photographs of bollywood actor-actresses.

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How to use ‘VIRDI’CT..??
●○○○○ Browse & leave it
●●○○○ Borrow & Read it
●●●○○ Buy it occasionally
●●●●○ Buy regularly
●●●●● Subscribe it now!!!

Sports Illustrated: Sports in India!!

People think that India is the most sports crazy country, but I think in that case the word ‘sports’ needs to be redefined for India. Truth is that nobody bothers for ‘sports’ in India, neither the audience nor the sponsors and the organizers… if it is not Cricket! Not even media! Even the cricket fever remains on our mind till the match is on. And for the (momentary) fans of cricket there are better mediums to get the real-time updates like internet, Mobile and TV. As it is we Indian cricket fans, don’t need any expert’s analysis when the match is over. In fact each one of us is quite capable of criticizing any cricket match, shot-by-shot or even ball-by-ball …don’t we do so? Then why the media should talk about other games not the cricket, if talking about cricket only can hook their readers/ viewers/ listeners (so the advertisers).

Cover of the launch issue of Indian edition of ‘Sports Illustrated’ magazine also approves that for us Indians- sports means cricket, that’s it. American magazine Sports Illustrated is launched this October in India by Time Inc and Dennis Media TransAsia (also publisher of Indian editions of Maxim, Blender, Travel+Leisure, Better Homes & Gardens, Casaviva, Child etc.) as a monthly magazine that is priced at Rs.100. International edition of SI is regarded for its in-depth sports analysis, experts’ columns and of course for its great photography. It seems that desi version of SI is targeting cricket lovers (mainly) and those, who are real fans of international edition of ‘Sports Illustrated’; they have to compromise with this localized edition only. They should not expect the range (ratio) of sports in Indian edition as much as they find in American edition, especially those eye-grabbing covers.

Content
As I have mentioned earlier that cricket is going to rule the overall content, cover story is also about finding out “India’s Greatest Cricketer”. An issue which is never debated (at least seriously) was raised first, and then 30 experts are roped in to settle down the argument. I cannot imagine that any cricket fan (not the fan of cricket stars) has thought of finding ‘Cricketer No.1’ of Indian cricket history…! And SI India has given nothing but just a list of twenty greatest Indian cricketers that is not going to affect any reader’s life or the future of Indian cricket. Anyway, we have a list now!

Front section of the magazine is interesting. Leading off, Scorecard (along with subsections like Life On and Off…, Grill, Go Figure, World of Sport and Mixed Media) are really informative and presented in very interesting way. Back pages of the magazine don’t interest too much. Rest of the part of the magazine i.e. main chunk of the magazine doest have any editorial structure at all. There are various write ups, features, and columns on various sports (like football, tennis, Boxing, F1 etc.) but there is not visible structure of putting articles on these pages. They appear as if they are put there without any order; and that clearly shows the lack of structure in the magazine.

Though, SI international is known for its writing and the photography as well, I don’t find it even up to the mark. Photographs used even in the lead shots of the articles are very poor (accept the FOB pages). Similarly, inconsistency in the thought process of making the cover story of launch is quite apparent. Cover lines (along with the cover photograph) misleads that issue is going to settle the debate of ‘who is the (single) greatest cricketer amongst three- Sunil, Kapil and Sachin.’ Inside pages have different headline that says something else all together that it is a list of top 20 greatest cricketers of all time!

Design
Poor designing & inconsistent layouts make me hard to believe that SI India is also a baby of publishers of Maxim & T+L SA which are remarkably good in design. Substandard visualization and even worsen its execution is apparent right from the cover itself.

Though SI is also reputed for its great photography, but for the concept cover (like launch issue of SI India) it could have been better. Gold metallic color is used as background color to make it stand out that is fine but the cut-outs of three players are so childish that it looks like a page of a scrap book made be a young cricket fan using scissor-cut photographs.

Cover is carrying too many elements those are put there on the cover without any navigation guide. Neither the typography nor the color and weight of texts help reader to follow the cover stories. Typography is done so badly that it makes difficult to read the cover stories at a glance on the newsstand. Other stories are even badly presented using unnecessary typo and inconsistent & illogical leading between them. Overall cover is looking too clutter with no guides for browsing.

Inside pages also have lots of inconsistencies in basic grids, usages of typefaces, designing and using various design elements.

Printing
Poor prepress and substandard imaging can ruin even if you use good photographs in your magazine. In some pages where photographs are up to the mark, poor photo editing has ruined all the quality. And some pages are carrying even poor photograph. For example, the lead shot of Bhiachung Bhutia in the very first article of the launch issue is so grainy and edited so badly that it leaves very bad first impression on reader’s mind. I have to mention that most of the photographs are looking good in the magazine are from Getty Images.

Printing quality of a magazine largely gets affected by the prepress quality and that is why printing also is not very impressive here.

Product
In spite of the fact that India is a sports crazy country (fine, for the cricket only) Sports Illustrated is still going to remain special interest magazine only, not the general interest. For that kind of TG, a monthly product for Rs.100 is perfectly fine. Paper quality and the look & feel of around 126 pages magazine it shows that much of worth.

Cricket seems to remain on top of the content planning for SI India for no doubt, but publishers of this Magazine should keep in the mind the destiny of previously launched other cricket magazines in India and the pitiable condition of currently running other sports magazines. And top of that they need to match their (SI International) readers’ high expectations from its Indian Edition.
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An Effective Cover - What is it and how it works!

Every issue of Better Photography Magazine has been carrying consistent covers and that eventually have become now an identity for the magazine (brand). This consistency has helped in building the unique personality of Better Photography which distinguishes it amongst its competitors on the newsstands.

Let me explain you the simple yet effective philosophy behind its covers by illustrating one (the latest one, for the matter) in detail.

Hurdles right at the beginning
The ‘making of cover’, ideally, starts with a single theme decided for the month by the editorial team. Otherwise it begins with the main cover story if issue is neither special nor thematic. Accordingly, the entire story lines (text), main picture, other elements are given to the designer to place them on the cover. Sounds simple? Not a single art director or designer would agree to this. For him, it would have been easiest job to put all the text and other elements on a blank paper. But making a cover is just not that. It starts with extremely unavoidable restrictions and that is where challenge comes to the designer’s creativity.

While thinking of putting even the first element on the cover, he needs to keep lots of things in his mind- Mast head, the orientation, size of magazine, color of mast head (if it is fixed), reserved areas of the cover where he cannot even think of putting anything etc…! It is like asking someone to draw a painting on a canvas that has already a few elements drew on it and now he has to draw in the remaining part keeping the previous things intact. That is why, to design a cover of a magazine, the designer must have a great sense of visualization and creativity.

Right things at the right places
Let’s take a closer look on this cover that has a charismatic integration of text and photograph. In order to put the main story about ‘shooting portraits’ on the cover for this issue and what else could be better supporting cover photograph. This cover has got an eye-catching photograph of a gorgeous lady (a cine star-Amrita Rao – very unlikely to Better Photography that generally doesn’t carry any celebrity on the cover). Cover model is looking someone like whom it’s reader (Elderly young, male, literate, urban still cultured) can relate with.

First of all, this picture is a brilliant portrait shot that has dramatic lights falling on her body. Her expressions, slightly tilted face and her body language are just enough to take you there inside the photograph. Hands and fingers in the photograph are creating beautiful pattern and that is making this photograph an outstanding portrait. Magic of lights & shadows along with the dark back ground is adding a mysterious touch to this picture. Any portrait photographer would like to shoot the same way. And that is why it is integrated very well with the main cover story – ‘Learn to capture soulful PORTRAITS’ and also with second and third lead stories – ‘Can side profiles be better than frontal portraits?’ and ‘Creative flash techniques for great people pictures’.

Further, this picture is facing towards left side and that is why it is placed on the right side of the cover. That way it leaves entire left hand side of the cover empty to accommodate all the text and other elements without taking anything over the main picture. The head of the picture is slightly going over the Mast-head that is creating a sense of layers (virtual depth) on the cover. Sepia color of photograph is adding a typical portraiture mood in overall picture. This tone is just perfect for the white color that is standard for the mast-head and the cover stories of regular covers of Better Photography. As the second color for rest of text is used is bronze to match it with sepia tone of photograph. Combination of white & bronze is just adding the same flavor of sepia photographs to the overall design. Proper alignment of all the stories is giving a sense of disciplined and scientific approach of designing the cover (and same can be expected in the inside pages as well).

The Magazine cares for ‘YOU’…
Now, read the cover lines carefully. ‘Learn to capture soulful PORTRAITS’, ‘How to bring out the character of a person without even showing the face’, ‘Can side profiles be better than frontal portraits?’, ‘Creative flash techniques for great people pictures’, ‘cheap flash diffusers you can make’ and lots of ‘Exclusive Reviews’.

All the stories are written (phrased) to communicate an assurance to its reader (a prospective newsstand buyer) that ‘We understand you… we know exactly what is your requirement… we are there to help you in your growth…’. In other words, cover is promising to its reader that ‘Better Photography cares for you and is committed to help you at each & every step of your growth’. Selection of articles advocates that Better Photography understand its reader up to the core.

Making it a selling cover
It is fine to put lots of benefits for the readers on the cover to show it as a promising issue. But process of making a great cover doesn’t end here, now it is also important to make it saleable on newsstand. A beautiful portrait is good enough to catch the eye-ball on newsstand. And top of that, sepia color stands out amongst the crowd of other very colorful covers lying on the newsstand. To hook a (prospective) buyer into the cover, the cover story has a very catchy word – ‘PORTRAIT’. This a great hook for almost every photographer who is interested in this subject. And if it works, reader will take a closer look on the cover story and will come to know other benefits. Then he may pick up the copy in his hands on the newsstand and may read other stories and benefits told there for him. Second & third leading stories are also promising and telling that he is going to get benefit out of these articles.

These stories are put in different colors & sizes to bring attention of buyer while maintaining the overall design good looking. This variation is also communicating the weight of the article in the issue. Yes, it can be debatable that too much text can make a cover too crowded, but in this issue even that aspect is taken care very intelligently.

To communicate the total value of this issue to the reader, total ‘Sixteen’ stories are put on the cover. Precisely, one hundred and twenty five words are placed in very balanced way so that they should not create clutter on the cover (that too without including mast-head, tag line, date, price, website address, positioning statement & the publication information …phew!). This is an excellent example of putting really a big number of information on the cover and still keeping the cover esthetically good.

Anything Special…?
Suddenly, his eyes get distracted by a peel-out sticker that is- 1) Telling the reader that the issue is carrying World’s Exclusive Review about one of the most talked about camera, and 2) It is pampering his ego by giving him an opportunity of being ‘first’ to known.

After this his eyes can go on the top band or at the bottom strip where other beneficial stories are shown in finer fonts. Top band is made of using the same color as the peel-out sticker is made of. That shows the synchronized color scheme of choosing colors for various elements are used on the cover. On the top-right hand side corner of the cover, it is having a sachet in blue color where the entries for the ‘Photographer of the year 2009’ contest are invited and this is a good catch for any aspiring photographer.

Smart investment
This cover, in the totality is offering a great value to any enthusiast and an aspiring photographer, who has a passion to know more and more about the subject and to establish himself in the league of great lens men. And the whole cover is promising to take him in the right direction. Hence, this cover has all the elements in the right way those are necessary to make a great and effective cover… a cover that is capable of market itself & can carry the burden of selling the magazine on its own. A cover that can convince a person on newsstand that buying this issue is going to be a smart investment for him, it is really an effective cover.